A man identified as Sean Yetman in the viral video, now with more than 3 million views.
(YouTube)

(Newser)
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A man accused of impersonating a US military officer in a viral video was caught posing as a cop more than a decade ago. Sean Yetman pleaded guilty to impersonating a public servant in 2003, after he was caught during a routine traffic stop wearing the coat of a Philadelphia police officer who had died on the job, the Bucks County Courier Times reports. Yetman, who claimed to work for Philadelphia's 26th District, said the coat belonged to his uncle. He also had the officer's badge. The officer's widow told police she had given both items to her son, who knew Yetman. "She said she did not know how Yetman had come into possession of the jacket and the badge," police said. Yetman was put on probation for three months.

Meanwhile, police and a US Army investigator are poring over video footage to determine if Yetman committed a crime last week. A woman at his home Saturday said he had a military background, but authorities have refuted Yetman's claims that the three Combat Infantrymen Badges he wore were awarded for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yetman, who claims to be a staff sergeant in the Army Rangers in the video, is not in the US Army's database or any database of Army members who have taken Ranger training at Fort Benning, the Courier Times reports. Since the video surfaced, Yetman has lost his job, received death threats, and had a nervous breakdown, his fiance tells the Army Times.

These serial impersonators do it for the thrill. We had one in our state who kept getting out of jail and then finding a new uniform to impersonate. He decided that a US Army colonel was the funnest and did it twice. His lieyar said he didn't deserve prison on the second incident because he really hurt nobody. But he got 10 years in club Fed because he entered an incident scene in full BDU's and started to assume duties as that colonel. He was let out and then he did it a third time in Arkansas. He impersonated another Army colonel. His lieyar said, "He's still just having fun with life and that should not be a crime."

CasperImproved

Dec 4, 2014 1:51 PM CST

The one thing I found curious, is the the fiancee is not already an Ex.